1. Field
The following description relates to a piezoelectric energy harvester and a wireless switch including the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a lighting device is turned on or off by a switch. Since the switch is required to be disposed in a position reachable by a user, the switch is generally positioned on a wall of a building. Therefore, a power line applied to such a switch is formed inside of the wall of the building.
When the user turns on or off the lighting device, the user moves to be directly next to the wall on which the switch is formed and manually manipulates the switch to turn on or off the lighting device. However, this scheme is inconvenient because of the requirement for direct manual manipulation. Hence, it may be difficult for a user to identify his or her surroundings after the lighting device is turned off at night, causing an inconvenience in manipulation of the switch.
Therefore, a wireless switch device has been suggested in order to solve the inconvenience of the requirement for manual manipulation as described above and to allow for improved user convenience in turning lighting devices on and off.
When a user manipulates a transmitting unit of a remote control device, or the like, which is a wireless switch device, a lighting device control signal is wirelessly transmitted from the remote control device, and a receiving unit provided in the wall surface receives the wireless signal to turn on or off the lighting device. Such an approach provides improved convenience.
Since a battery, or a similar source of electric energy, is embedded in the transmitting unit of the remote control device, the battery needs to be periodically replaced, which is inconvenient.